Effects of Scattered Bolt Preload on the Sealing Performance of Pipe Flange Connection With Gaskets Under External Bending Moment and Internal Pressure

Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Yoshio Takagi ◽  
Koji Sato ◽  
Yuya Omiya ◽  
Hayato Doi

Bolted pipe flange connections have been widely used in mechanical structures such as oil, chemical plants and so on. Sometimes leakage accidents occur from the connections. In assembling the pipe flange connections, the bolt preloads are scattered and then the connections are subjected to external bending moment due to earthquake as well as internal pressure. In the present paper, the changes in the axial bolt forces are measured in assembling. The bolts are tightened with torque wrench. Using the history of the bolt force changes, the gasket stress distributions on the connection with gaskets are analyzed using FEM. Then the gasket stress distributions on the connections under external bending moment and internal pressure are analyzed. Using the gasket stress distributions, the amount of leakage of the connections is estimated while the basic gasket characteristics have been measured according to JIS B 2251. The amount of leakage of the connection was measured for the various gasket stresses. The estimated results are in a fairly good agreement with the measured results. It is found that the effect of the scatter of bolt preload is substantial on the sealing performance of the connections. Discussion is made on the sealing characteristics of the connections. The change of axial bolt force obtained from experimental result and FEM result are fairly good agreement.

Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Wataru Maezaki ◽  
Satoshi Nagata

It has been well known that a scatter in axial bolt forces of pipe flange connections tightened by the torque control method is substantial. It is necessary for evaluating the sealing performance of the pipe flange connections with the gaskets subjected to internal pressure and external bending moment to know the contact gasket stress distributions due to the scatter of the axial bolt forces in the connections tightened by the torque control method. This paper deals with the leakage of the pipe flange connections with a spiral wound gasket subjected to internal pressure and external bending moment tightened by the torque control method. The scattered axial bolt forces were measured in the experiments. The contact gasket stress distributions at the interfaces between pipe flanges and the gasket were calculated under the measured axial bolt force by using elasto-plastic finite element method (FEM) taking into account hysteresis and non-linearity in the stress-strain curves of spiral wound gasket. The effects of the scatter in the axial bolt forces tightened by the torque control method on the gas leakage were also examined by using the actual pipe flange connections under internal pressure and external bending moment. By using the calculated contact stress distributions and the results of the leakage tests, the sealing performance was evaluated. It is found that the sealing performance is worse in the actual pipe flange connection than that evaluated by PVRC procedure.


Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Shota Tsubaki ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Tsutomu Kikuchi ◽  
Yuya Omiya

Bolted flange connections with ring joint gaskets have been used to seal the inner fluid under higher internal pressure and higher temperature conditions where soft gaskets such as compressed sheet gaskets cannot be applied. Bolted flange connections are frequently tightened using torque wrench, and it is known that the values of bolt preloads are scattered. The effect of the scatter on the sealing performance for bolted flange connections with compressed sheet gasket or semi-metal gasket has been examined. However, no research on the characteristics for the bolted flange connections with ring joint gasket has been found. It is necessary to know the effect of the scattered bolt preloads on the sealing performance and mechanical behavior of the connection with ring joint gasket. In addition, it is important to know an optimum method for determining the bolt preloads taking account of the scatter in bolt preloads. In this paper, leakage tests for bolted flange connections with octagonal ring joint gaskets were conducted for cases where the bolt preloads are uniform and scattered. The sealing performance of these connections with ring joint gaskets was measured and evaluated. In addition, the leak rate was estimated using the contact gasket stress distributions of the connections when the bolt preloads were uniform and scattered using 3-D FEM. Finally, the measured leak rate for the connection using helium gas was compared with the estimated results. The estimated results are in fairly good agreement with the measured values. It is found that the sealing performance of the connections tightened with the uniform bolt methods is better than that with scattered bolt preloads.


Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Yuya Omiya ◽  
Shota Tsubaki ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa

Bolted flange connections with metal gasket have been used at higher pressure under higher temperature condition. Assembly procedures and tightening methods the connections including some types of metal gasket is empirically. Generally, it is known that the bolt preload which is required for satisfying an indicated leak rate in the connections including the metal gasket is not higher than that of the connections including sheet gaskets and spiral wound gaskets. However, no research for the evaluating the sealing performance in the bolted flange connections with metal gaskets has been conducted. In this paper, the leakage tests for the bolted flange connections with the metal flat gasket were conducted in the case where the maximum internal pressure of 7MPa and a bending moment are applied, where the leak rate is measured using the pressure drop method. Then, the sealing performance of the connections with the metal flat gasket was evaluated. In addition, using the FEM stress calculations, the flange stress distributions between the flange surface and the gasket were examined as the evaluation. As the result, it is found that the stress distribution at the contact surfaces between the metal flat gasket and the flange surface under the bending moment and the internal pressure. In the leakage tests, it was observed that the amount of the leakage (He gas) depends on the stress distributions and the plastic deformation of the gasket.


Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Mitsuhiro Matsumoto ◽  
Fumio Ando

The leakage evaluation when gas is used is more severe than that when liquid is used in pipe flange connections. In a practical design, it is also necessary to examine the leakage in the connection under liquid internal pressure. This paper deals with the contact gasket stress distributions in the pipe flange connections with a spiral wound gasket and a compressed sheet gasket by using elasto-plastic finite element method (FEM) taking account hysteresis and non-linearity in the stress-strain curves of the gaskets, when bending moments as well as internal pressure are applied to the connections. In the FEM calculations, the effects of the gaskets and the initial clamping bolt force (bolt preload) on the contact gasket stress distributions are examined. The leakage tests for the connections under bending moments were also conducted by using liquid (water). By using the results of the leakage tests and the calculated contact gasket stress distributions, the sealing performance of the connections is evaluated. It is found that the sealing performance of the connection under the bending moment can be estimated when internal fluid is liquid (water).


Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Mitsuhiro Matsumoto

This paper deals with the characteristics of a pipe flange connection with a compressed asbestos sheet gasket (JIS) subjected to an internal pressure and a bending moment. The contact gasket stress distributions at the interfaces between pipe flanges and a gasket are calculated by the elasto-plastic finite element method taking account a hysteresis and a non-linearity in the stress-strain curve of the compressed asbestos sheet gasket. In addition, measurements of a change in axial bolt force and leakage test were conducted using an actual pipe flange connection with the gasket subjected to the internal pressure and the bending moment. The new gasket constants are calculated by using the results of the leakage test and the calculated average contact gasket stress. The values of the new gasket constants obtained by the present study are in a fairly good agreement with those from ROTT (PVRC). It is found that the value of the tightness parameter is increased as the bending moment is increased. This is because the average contact gasket stress under the bending moment is increased, while it is decreased under the internal pressure.


Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Mitsuhiro Matsumoto ◽  
Satoshi Nagata

It has been well known that a scatter in axial bolt forces of pipe flange connections tightened by the torque control method is substantial. It is necessary for evaluating the sealing performance of the pipe flange connections with the gaskets subjected to intemal pressure to know the contact gasket stress distributions due to the scatter of the axial bolt forces in the connections tightened by the torque control method. This paper deals with the leakage of the pipe flange connections with a spiral wound gasket and that with a compressed sheet gasket tightened by the torque control method. The scatter in the axial bolt forces was measured in the experiments. The contact gasket stress distributions at the interfaces of the pipe flange connections with the gaskets were calculated under the measured axial bolt forces by using elasto-plastic finite element method (FEM) taking into account hysteresis and non-linearity in the stress-strain curves of the gaskets. The effects of the scatter in the axial bolt forces tightened by the torque control method on the gas leakage were also examined by using the actual pipe flange connections. As the result, a difference in an amount of gas leakage measured was found to be substantial between our study and PVRC procedure. By using the calculated contact gasket stress distributions under the internal pressure and the results of the leakage tests, the sealing performance was evaluated. It is found that the sealing performance is worse in the actual pipe flange connection than that evaluated by PVRC procedure.


Author(s):  
Masahide Katsuo ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Yuki Kikuchi

This study deals with the stress analysis and the estimation of sealing performance of the pipe flange connections with an adhesive under an internal pressure and an external bending moment are analyzed by using the 3-dimensional elastic finite element method (FEM). The experiment of the leakage test of the connections with an adhesive was carried out by applying the above loads to the connections. From the FEM analysis, the following results were obtained; (1) when an internal pressure is applied to the flange connections, the compressive stress at the interface between a flange and an adhesive increases proportionally from the inner side of the interface to outside, and (2) when an internal pressure and a bending moment apply to the flange connections, the stress distribution at the half part of the interface increases as the external bending moments increase and also Young’s modulus of the adhesive increases. From the experiments, the following results were obtained: (1) sealing performance of the pipe flange connections with an adhesive under an internal pressure and an external bending moment increases as the flange thickness and an initial clamping force of bolts increases and (2) the sealing performances were not found between the connections with an adhesive and that with a gasket combining an adhesive. Furthermore, the numerical results are in fairly good agreement with the experimental results.


Author(s):  
Koji Sato ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Riichi Morimoto ◽  
Takashi Kobayashi

In designing of pipe flange connections with gaskets, it is important to examine the mechanical characteristics of the connections subjected to external bending moments due to earthquake such as the changes in hub stress, axial bolt forces and the contact gasket stress distribution which governs the sealing performance. One of the authors developed the PTFE blended gaskets and the authors examined the mechanical characteristics of the connections with the PTFE blended gaskets under internal pressure. However, no research was done to examine the mechanical characteristics of the connections with the newly developed PTFE blended gasket subjected to external bending moment due to earthquake. The objectives of the present study are to examine the mechanical characteristics of the connection with PTFE blended gasket subjected to external bending moment and internal pressure and to discuss the difference in the load order to the connections between the internal pressure and the external bending moments. The changes in the hub stress, the axial bolt force and the contact gasket stress distribution of the connection are analyzed using FEM. Using the obtained the gasket stress distribution and the fundamental data between the gasket stress and the leak rate for a smaller test gasket, the leak rate of the connection with the gasket is predicted under external bending moment and internal pressure. In the FEM calculations, the effects of the nominal diameter of pipe flanges on the mechanical characteristics are shown. In the experiments, ASME class 300 4 inch flange connection with 2m pipes at both sides is used and the test gasket is chosen as No.GF300 made by Nippon Valqua Industries, ltd. Four point bending moment is applied to the connection. The FEM results of the hub stress and the axial bolt forces are in a fairly good agreement with the experimental results. In addition, the FEM results of the leak rate are fairly coincided with the measured results.


2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahide Katsuo ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa

The interface stress distributions between the coupling collar, the adhesive and the pipes of the joint subjected to an internal pressure, a temperature change and bending moments are analyzed by using the elastic finite element method (FEM). The experiment of the rupture test of the joints manufactured by pipes made of structural steel (S45C, JIS) and epoxide adhesive was carried out by applying the above loads to the joints. From the numerical calculations, the following results were obtained: (1) the stress distributes uniformly at the interface except near the edges, (2) the stress becomes singular at the edges of the interfaces and (3) the stress distribution at a half part of the interface increase as the external bending moments increase and also Young’s modulus of the adhesive increases. From the experiments, the following results were obtained: (1) the joint strength (evaluated as a 95% non-rupture probability) under both the internal pressure and the temperature change increases as the coupling length increases and (2) the joint strength under both the internal pressure and the temperature change decreases when the external bending moment is applied to the joint. Furthermore, the numerical results are in fairly good agreement with the experimental results.


Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Takeshi Iwamoto ◽  
Kensuke Funada ◽  
Yuya Omiya

The leakage evaluation when gas is used is more severe than that when liquid is used in pipe flange connections. In a practical design, it is also necessary to examine the leakage in the connections under liquid internal pressure application. The contact gasket stress distribution in the connection with a spiral wound gasket subjected to internal pressure and bending moments were analyzed using elasto-plastic (EP) finite element method (FEM) taking account hysteresis and nonlinearity in the stress-strain curve of the gasket. The effects of initial clamping bolt force (bolt preload), the nominal pressure and the nominal diameter of pipe flange and the equivalent pressure when the leakage occurs on the contact gasket stress distributions were examined. The leakage tests for the connections under the bending moments and the internal pressure were also conducted by using liquid (water). By using the results of the leakage tests and the calculated contact gasket stress distributions, the sealing performance of the connections was evaluated. It was found that the sealing performance of the connection can be estimated when liquid (water) was used, that is, when the contact gasket stress becomes zero, the leakage occurs. In addition, a method for determining the bolt preload in the connections under the bending moments was proposed for the reliable design.


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